Yes, a new Captain America. It’s been done before, but never as good as Ed Brubaker’s assassination of Steve Rogers/Bucky Cap. I guess Rick Remender got sick of people saying how he was no Ed Brubaker, so he’s having a go at it.
I like Rick Remender’s Cap. I know, I’m in the minority. I didn’t blink an eye at the much ado about nothing surrounding Falcon having sex with an underage girl (he didn’t), and I thought the Planet Z was a bit too long but otherwise told a great story.
The new Cap, as I’m sure everyone knows by now, will be Sam Wilson. A black Captain America. It’s about time, first of all. Marvel waited so long that it probably won’t even be controversial. After all, we already got a black Nick Fury and a black Hiemdall.
And if you don’t like it, don’t worry. The third Captain America movie is slotted for a May 2016 release, so we’ll have Steve Rogers back behind the mask before that.
In other news….
BUT…YOU’RE BLACK?! In other “suddenly African American news,” Susan Heyward has been cast as Deena Pilgrim in the Powers TV show being developed for the Sony PlayStation network.
AND SPEAKING OF RACE-CHANGES…THE FANTASTIC FOUR MOVIE WON’T BE LIKE THE COMIC. Racial variety in casting already established that, because it looks like movie Susan and Johnny Storm had different daddies, but now we’re learning that castmembers have been told not to read any F4 comics because the movie won’t be anything like that. I guess this is going to be Mark Millar’s big “F-k You” to Marvel. Millar, creator of Kick Ass and writer of a controversial run on F4, is essentially the showrunner for the studio, which also owns Spider-Man, and he’s made no secret of the fact that he thinks he’s better than everyone else.
AND IT’S NOT JUST RACES THAT ARE CHANGING…SHE-THOR! Of all places, Marvel announced the “The View” that Thor will lose his hammer and a woman will pick it up. It will happen in Thor God of Thunder #1 (or All-Newer Thor?), coming in October from Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman. That’s the team currently working on the fair-to-
middling Cyclops solo book. It looks like she’s Angela, who has been revealed to be Thor’s sister, but it may be someone entirely new.
SUPERMAN TO APPEAR ON “ARROW” TV SHOW. Well, not really. But Brandon “Superman Returns” Routh (the movie so bad only one person in history liked it) will portray Ray Palmer/The Atom. Also joining the cast is Robbie Amell, the real-life cousin of the guy who plays Green Arrow. Robbie will play Firestorm. And in other Arrow news, the writers of the show will now be the writers of the comic—starting with issue #35.
AND ALSO MAYBE ON “THE FLASH” TV SHOW. It looks like they’re prepping Arrow/Flash to have a lot of crossovers—maybe more than Buffy and Angel did. That makes me sad because I don’t watch Arrow but I do plan to watch Flash. And I don’t see how I can fit another hour into my TV watching and still have time to play Clash of Clans obsessively like an idiot.
THE RETURN OF KLARION THE WITCH BOY. Who? He’s a magic character created by Jack Kirby in the pages of The Demon. DC Comics is moving Ann Nocenti off of Catwoman and giving her the chance to work with this extreme fringe character, who will be an occult character lurking in Gotham City. She’s written weird supernatural superheroes before, so this might be a good fit for her.
SELFIES AND MONSTERS FROM DC. Next month, all of DC’s comics will have “selfie” covers. Meh. But in October, all the covers will feature the title characters as monsters (werewolves, vampires, etc.). Now that’s a gimmick I can dig.
75 YEARS OF MARVEL. Coming this fall, a history of Marvel written by Roy Thomas (the second Editor in Chief of Marvel, after Stan Lee), that talks about characters and creators. 720 pages, thousands of pictures and original art, and a four-foot-long centerfold showing the history of Marvel. All for $200. I smell a Christmas present.
GILBERT HERNANDEZ DOES WONDER WOMAN. As part of the September DC Digital First lineup, there is a relaunch of Sensation Comics that will include the “Love and Rockets” creator’s vision of Wonder Woman. There are few people who can draw sexy-and-real, Terry Moore and Amanda Conner are the other two I can think of, as well as Hernandez. I can’t wait to read this. For those who prefer pulp fiction, the digital comic will be printed the following month.
ARCHIE GOT SHOT. In Life With Archie #36, the second-to-last issue of the series and the end of his life.
BUCKY BARNES: WINTER SOLDIER. A new series to be written by Ales Kot (“Zero”) and illustrated by Marco Rudy (“Marvel Knights: Spider-Man”), coming in October.
THUNDERBOLTS IS ENDING. I guess Marvel had mercy on us. (Actually, under the new writing team of Ben Acker and Ben Blacker it has gotten somewhat better, but the entire concept was terrible. Just terrible.)
HAWKEYE ALSO ENDING. Which is probably a good thing. I still like it, but it’s run its course. The real question is whether this means that Matt Fraction—who is having lots of success over at Image Comics and recently was dropped from a major Marvel event—is done working for Marvel.
